Video games have exploded in popularity and social importance over the last fifty years. Bolstered by heavy adoption of computers and consumer electronics devices, video games are an essential component of contemporary entertainment activities. Rapidly expanding computer power in accordance with Moore's Law coupled with vicious competition within the consumer electronics industry causes cheaper more capable gaming systems and computers to be released every year. Accordingly, many game developers and publishers have focused on providing hyper realistic graphics and massive, complex gaming worlds to fully leverage the abundance of available gaming device power. Although the recent trend toward more realistic game look and feel has created more lifelike experiences for gamers, many important aspects that made early games so popular have been overlooked, for example, intricate character movements, challenging gameplay, and subtle yet nuanced game world and environments.
From this motivation to rediscover the addictive magic of 70s, 80s, and 90s style arcade and NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (NES) games, the retro gaming movement was born. Retro games seek to break the modern trend of hyper realistic look and feel and immerive game environments in favor of relatively simple aesthetics coupled with more intricate gameplay. Developers and publishers innovating within the retro gaming genre are revamping old game titles and producing many new characters, plots, storylines, and titles. With the abundance of classic games already in existence, however, many developers are struggling to produce character animations and gameplay concepts that are truly unique. Additionally, due to competition from more realistic looking games, developers of retro style games struggle to produce gameplay sequences and game worlds that are as gripping as more aesthetically pleasing alternatives. Another challenge with designing retro style games is creating gameplay that is layered and nuanced enough to be challenging without being so detailed and precise as to make the game frustrating to play or impossible to complete.
Despite these challenges, retro games are becoming more and more popular year after year. This popularity evinces a well-established need for new characters, gameplay elements, and game world designs. In particular, ways for integrating novel character movements into a cohesive gameplay design are needed to meet the growing demand for video game entertainment. Additionally, methods of creating and implementing novel gameplay elements within a game world are needed to improve the player experience and aesthetics of retro games.